Asus’ latest netbook, the elegant Eee PC ‘Seashell’ 1008HA has now officially launched in Taiwan. Asus released a press release which confirms that it plans to market the netbook under the ‘Seashell’ brand and also confirmed the full list of technical specifications.

According to The Register, the UK launch could be as early as next week. They believe that full UK pricing and availability details will emerge on Tuesday. A number of UK retailers already have the Seashell 1008HA for pre-order, but there is much discrepancy in pricing and launch dates. It was originally believed that pricing would be around the £360 mark, but current pre-orders range from £380 to £400. Some sites (Laptops Direct) put the release date as a week away whilst others (Amazon) list 1-2 months.

The Seashell 1008HA is a departure from Asus’ current 1000 line of Eee PCs. The design cues taken from the Macbook Air are obvious and it’s certainly one of the more attractive netbooks around. As well as being extremely thin at 1-inch, it also only weighs 1.1kg. The Seashell comes in a glossy exterior with “tiny reflective specks which glisten in the light” according to the press release.

The Seashell sports a 10-inch (1024 x600) display and is powered by the 1.66GHz N280 Atom CPU. It also comes with a 92-percent keyboard and a multi-touch touchpad. Asus also promises 6 hours of battery life for the Seashell, a creditable result given its size. Other specs include 1GB RAM, 160GB HDD, Wi-Fi (b/g/n), Bluetooth and a 1.3MP webcam. The Seashell 1008HA will be available in six colours on release – White, Black, Blue, Pink, Sapphire Blue, Ruby Red.

Current pricing seems a bit high to me, but I imagine Asus are charging a premium for the design. This is a similar move that Samsung are undertaking with the N310 netbook, which has similar specifications to the NC10 but costs significantly more given the unique design. We’ll keep you posted on 1008HA pricing and release dates.